Theft of materials from libraries and archives is more common problem than most people realize. One of the core tenets of librarianship (which includes archivists) is to allow–as much as possible–unfettered access to information. Unfortunately for libraries, archives and the people who patronize and manage them, some take advantage of such access by stealing artifacts. It’s difficult to strike a balance between open access and absolute security; libraries and archives continue to struggle with this clash of principle and need. There are well documented cases of thieves who stole rare books for their own personal collections, but more often than not, people steal these sorts of artifacts to try to turn a profit.
As we saw here yesterday, some thieves go after rare and/or expensive books; other thieves want rare historical artifacts. Such was the case of a rare cabinet card photograph of early baseball star Al Reach, which was found to be missing from NYPL’s A.G. Spalding Collection in 1987. Jimmy Leiderman, an eagle-eyed collector from Florida, saw the rare photo on eBay and had a hunch: “I’ve followed the investigation into the NYPL thefts pretty closely and when I saw this image, I just knew it might be the missing Reach, it’s quite a rare image.”
eBay has ended the auction and contacted the FBI for assistance in resolving the matter. You can read a full account at Hauls of Shame. The photo has changed hands more than once, but it seems it may now finally return to its rightful home at NYPL.
